News
Thumb injury cuts Hampton's night short
Lefty first hurt himself on Sunday, leaves after four frames
By Alyson Footer / MLB.com
05/20/09 12:15 AM ET
HOUSTON -- Mike Hampton has had just about every injury known to man in the past several years. Elbows, forearms, hamstrings, pectoral muscles -- you name it, he's hurt it.But his reason for leaving his start against the Brewers on Tuesday was a true original. He was knocked out of the game with a cut on his left thumb that he had suffered while getting soap out of the dispenser in the shower at Wrigley Field on Sunday.
"It just happened in the shower," Hampton said. "I was pumping the soap out, taking a shower and it slipped off. Cut my finger. Of course, it couldn't be the right hand. That wouldn't serve anybody any justice if it was the right hand. It had to be the left."
Because he's not worried the wound will keep him from making his next start, Hampton was able to joke about the incident. He wondered what happened to the good old days, when life was easier, pre-soap-dispenser era.
"I'm used to bars of soap," Hampton said. "I guess we don't have those anymore. I've got to use the other stuff."
Before Tuesday's game, Hampton said he glued the cut shut and "played a little catch" and thought he could get through the outing. But the wound opened up after the first inning, and Hampton knew it wasn't going to improve over the course of the game.
"I didn't have a whole lot of feel for any of my pitches," he said. "We thought it would be safe to get me out of there sooner than later."
In his 60-pitch outing, Hampton allowed two runs, walked three and struck out four.
"I didn't have anything," he said. "I threw a lot of four-seam fastballs, and I was all over the place. I was trying to battle as long as I could. I told them I'll battle as long as I can, and they said there's no reason to take a chance in making it worse."
Hampton plans to make his next start, vs. the Rangers on Sunday.
Alyson Footer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
